University of Colorado DenverSHELLEY ZION is the executive director of the Center for Advancing Practice, Education, and Research and assistant research professor at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. She specializes in issues of social justice and equity in urban education, with a focus on school reform, teacher preparation, and student voice. Related publications include Klingner, J. K., Artiles, A. J., Kozleski, E., Harry, B., Zion, S., Tate, W., et al. (2005). Addressing the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education through culturally responsive educational systems. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 13(38), 1–40; and Blanchett, W., & Zion, S. (in press). Asking the right questions in urban education research: Researcher values. In K. A. Scott & W. J. Blanchett (Eds.), Research in urban educational settings: Lessons learned and implications for future practice. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Zion and Blanchett assert that the inclusive education movement in America has never had the potential to be truly inclusive, given the movement’s lack of attention to the intersection of ability/disability with issues of race, class, and privilege. Examining the overrepresentation of students of color in special education (segregated placements, in particular) within the historical context of public schooling in America, the authors contend that social justice, critical race theory, and interest convergence are powerful tools with which to [re]conceptualize a truly inclusive education movement in America.